Posted on: 8 October 2024
The Marine Technology Trust ran a successful event ‘Technology Skills for the Future of the UK Maritime Industry’, which was organised in partnership with Maritime London and hosted by Trinity House on 30 September (see the detailed agenda here).
The afternoon event consisted of a seminar and an evening drinks reception, celebrating the Marine Technology Trust, a charity that was set out to foster and encourage new and emerging talent by providing opportunities for education, training and research to young people in the field of marine technology.
R V Ahilan, FREng, Chief Energy Transition Officer, ABL Group and the Trust’s Chair welcomed the guests outlining the Trust’s 30-year history, its achievements and future ambitions. Sarah Kenny OBE, CEO of BMT, who has recently agreed to be the Trust’s Patron, delivered the keynote address.
The first panel discussion on ‘Marine Technology Solutions for a Net Zero World: How to Deliver Them’ was framed within a context of urgency and change anticipated to align the sector with the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement. The end point of many of the topics – whether fuel-focused, around energy efficiency or indeed around the skills required – was that ‘solutions’ are increasingly complex and interconnected. Silver bullets are no longer the order of the day, so our expert panel explored the implications of combining low-carbon interventions across ships, ports and operations for skills training, and retraining. With a growing role of digitisation and artificial intelligence, the likelihood of the sector requiring skills from outside ‘maritime’ was highlighted. Moreover, with the scale and nature of the changes anticipated, the panel was optimistic about opportunities for an increasing number of good jobs to support infrastructure and systems developments that will need rapid adoption if the sector is to move in a timely way to cut its emissions.
Prof Alice Larkin, Professor of Climate Science and Energy Policy in the School of Engineering at the University of Manchester, who moderated the session said: “It was energising to hear about practical changes that are already emerging to help the sector to realise its low-carbon transition, whilst ensuring that the number of good jobs and a more diverse workforce expands to meet the maritime industry’s needs.”
Dr Tim Slingsby, Director of Skills and Education, Lloyd’s Register Foundation & Chair, Maritime Charities Group, commented: “New and emerging technologies are likely to be a very important part of the maritime industry’s transition to net zero. Let’s not focus on the technology and forget the surrounding context. The challenge is huge and none of us can act in isolation; the maritime industry is part of a maritime system. and we must be mindful of unintended consequences. Additionally, the transition must be people-centred, and lead to safer and more decent work.”
Prof Stephen Turnock, Head of School of Engineering, University of Southampton and a Trustee of the Marine Technology Trust, said: “As the maritime sector navigates zero carbon transition it needs to attract a new generation of talented individuals. It was exciting to discuss those technology challenges from future fuels to increased autonomy and to see the interest of industry in providing more internships as the vital first step into the sector.”
Philip Lawson, Head of Marine Solutions at NatPower Marine, said: “When it comes to decarbonising the maritime industry, we must accelerate the sector’s response by closer collaboration and engagement of all stakeholders. It is critical that we attract young, talented individuals to help with the sector’s decarbonisation challenges that lay ahead. However, we should not overlook our current workforce and the potentially valuable contributions they can make. As we decarbonise the maritime industry, we should encourage all maritime businesses to upskill their existing workforce, so they have the right skillsets to support new and emerging technologies.”
Daniel Hook, CEO, RAD Propulsion and a Trustee of the Marine Technology Trust, moderated the second panel ‘Marine Technology Skills Required for an Industry in Transition’. The discussion focussed on the need for training organisations, individuals and material to be adaptive and agile to suit rapidly changing needs, the growing interest in the path of degree level apprenticeships and the need to be clear in details around what is needed from training, meanwhile pledging a full support of the MTT internship program. He said: “A high quality attendee list generated some really thought-provoking discussion, you could feel the genuine enthusiasm for the industry and how to make it even better.”
Phil Parry, CEO of maritime people experts Spinnaker and a Director of Maritime London, commented: “This was an extremely engaging event covering topics that are high on the leadership agenda at the moment. Skills are, if you like, the “equipment” or “functionalities” of our people. The rate of technological and regulatory change is such that we have very little visibility when it comes to our future skills requirements. More than perhaps ever before in the race for skilled talent it is apparent that “if you snooze you lose”. First, today’s CEO must invest in creating an agile culture that supports continuous learning and development of its people. Secondly, from a recruitment perspective, it is the people who are open to change, who are adaptable and who have the willingness and ability to learn new skills who will be in the greatest demand. In the past, employers tended to recruit CVs, in other words they would ask ‘has this person done it before?’. In the future, those people won’t exist; already we have clients asking us to find them unicorns, in other words people who have extensive experience in brand new technologies. The test will be whether existing staff or new recruits have the foundations and the personal ‘toolkit’ if you like to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills. That may sound like grabbing hold of jelly but it’s something that the best employers will learn to do.”
Rosalind Blazejczyk, CEO of Solis Marine and a Trustee of the Marine Technology Trust, provided closing remarks summarising the event and calling for support of the Trust before inviting the attendees to a networking reception in the splendid interiors of Trinity House’s Court and Luncheon Rooms.
